Wednesday, 2/10, Alice Springs

After a great breakfast, we headed off to the Desert Park for the morning, about a 1/2 hr ride out of town. It was very hot, 110 F. and so we took lots of water. We had stopped the day before at a Coles supermarket so we could stock up on water (we need 1.5 liters in order to enter Uluru National Park) . I bought a nice Mediterranean salad (had for lunch the next day), 3 liter bottles of sparkling water, some chips and some grapes for about $25 AUS (about $18 US).




At the Park Matt, one of the rangers, gave us an introduction. We then headed out first to the Dingo exhibit. Two young males were waiting to be fed by the trainer. He talked about the very lean and mean looking dogs. Peter had talked about the movie The Dingo Ate my Baby, a movie starring Meryl Streep. This was based on a true story of a family camping at Uluru. The baby disappeared and the mother, at least, was convicted of her murder and sent to jail. They found blood spatters under the carpet in their van. Turns out later, with modern technology testing, the spatters were sound-proofing of the van. She was released, also when the jacket the baby was wearing was found. This is the reason they have banned the death penalty in Australia. I’ll have to check the movie out when I get home. 

Another movie mentioned was Rabbit Proof Fence, about an indigenous girl who runs away to get back to her family in the outback, and does it like 3 times! We saw on our tour a movie called Red Dog.

Next show I thought was the most amazing! It was a bird show that I thought would be in an enclosed aviary. But it was open and the ranger had trained these birds. There was a kestrel that flew in for some food. Then two larger kites, one with pointed tail feathers and the other with rounded ones, soared through the air and would grab the food right in the area. Or swoop down for the caterpillars he would drop in a puddle and they scooped it up without even rippling the water. One of the kites would hover in place above the ranger. Incredible!

There was a whitish barn owl that would swoop by with just the right current of air. Another owl sat silently and camouflaged up in the corner of the stands. Another ibis-type bird would hop up and down among the crowd, when the ranger threw food. It was a terrific show! I didn’t know birds could be trained like that!

Next was Matt talking about red kangaroos, with a group of maybe 5 of different sizes. One mother had a joey peeking out of her pouch. I thought the pouch was like a long pocket but when it closed up, it was more like a drawstring bag! Amazing! The worm-like fetus with no eyes or legs is born and crawls up the mom’s belly to the pouch. Then for 4 or 5 months he/she attached to one of four teats that when they latch on, engorges and feeds the baby. She can then get pregnant again but can freeze or suspend the fetus coming out for months at a time. Only one joey can be in the pouch at a time. Or if its a time of drought she can also suspend for up to two years the growth of a fetus.



There was more to see but it was hot and we didn’t have much time left. We headed back to the Center and watched another film about the outback with just beautiful scenery. Gift shop and away we went back to the hotel and the POOL!! I took my salad from yesterday and headed down to the coolness! We cooled off and hung around, had my daily beer! and chatted.
At 6 we headed out to the outback to a quarry where they were set up for our optional BBQ, info about the aborigines by Donald, a cultural anthropologist who also pointed out stars and constellations and planets just before we left when the lights were turned off. First John, who looked like a drover, cowboy, talked and prepared “damper”, flour, water, salt that made a big round loaf, after he baked it in a kettle in the fire, and served with some molasses. It was quite tasty!

Donald gave us a talk about the differences in life philosophies of the aborigine people, who live in the moment, can appear lazy if they have food, water, and will sit in the shade until it’s cooler, not having to feel constantly industrious like our society! They don’t worry about the future; they believe they have only so much energy and once it’s used up, they die! So they don’t run around doing stuff, getting exhausted in the midday sun!!


He also talked about their system to ensure there wasn’t a lot of inbreeding by drawing a circle divided into 1, 2, 3, and 4. Man 1 will marry someone from section 2 and their children will be in group 3. When man 1 married woman 2, he also married all her sisters, she his brothers so children could have several mothers, fathers, grandfathers, etc. It wasn’t quite clear to me but it seemed to work. Parents picked, often at birth, the spouse for their children.
 

Our dinner was being cooked on a gas grill made from a huge tractor tire rim, covered and they sizzled while Donald talked. We had wine or beer or water while we listened. Dinner was served with a salad, potato, roll and the steak. It was delicious! Some kind of apple dessert followed the damper bread and then Skip entertained us with Waltzing Mathilda, and other traditional Australian songs on his guitar. Cindy played the Lagerphone, a homemade instrument with a broom pole with tops of beer bottles nailed on, an aluminum band that she scraped a jagged hatchet handle across and a board at the top to bang on. Nick backed up with the Wobbleboard, a piece of board he bent to make a percussion noise. It was pretty funny!!

I was REALLY tired by the time I got to bed around 10:30. Up early for the busride to Yulara.